In many instances a customer is not aware of the advantages that a certain payment type (e.g., a specific credit account, a debit account, a checking account, e-commerce payment entity, cash or the like) may afford them at the time the customer conducts the transaction. In some instances this is because the advantages may be tied to the type of products or services being purchased, the transaction amount and/or the merchant associated with the transaction.
These advantages may come in the form of a lower cost for the product or service transacted for, lower interest rates, cash-back rewards, loyalty program points or rewards, extended warranty coverage or the like. However, in many instances, the advantages served by a payment type may be offset by detriments that customer prefers not to incur. For example, while certain credit payment forms (e.g. credit accounts) may afford cash-back rewards, loyalty program points/rewards, extended warranties or the like, they come at the cost of higher interest rates.
From the merchant and/or financial institution perspective, these entities will typically benefit from the consumer using some sort of payment type tied to the entity, such as merchant-branded or issued credit, financial institution credit or debit or the like. Historically the merchant and/or financial institution has encouraged the customer to use their merchant or financial institution-specific payment form prior to the customer conducting a transaction. More recently, merchant and financial institutions have attempted to encourage the customer to use their specific payment form at the point-of-sale (POS) or online check-out process just prior to the customer completing the transaction. Such payment type persuasion may come in the form of signage, sales associate encouragement and/or special offers on e-commerce check-out page. However, customers are usually in a hurry to complete the transaction and are, therefore, prone to ignore any suggestions or offers to change payment type, even if the suggested payment type may be highly advantageous to the customer.
Therefore, a need exists for providing customers the ability, post-transaction, to change payment types. The customer should be presented with such a proposition shortly after the transaction has been conducted, such that the transaction is fresh in the mind of the customer and such that the payment form used to conduct the transaction has yet to post. The process for changing payment form should be simplified and automatic, such that the customer is not burdened in any way by a time-consuming process. In addition, the payment form change proposals may provide for the advantages of the alternative payment forms so that the customer is aware of the benefits posed by the proposed alternative payment types. In addition, in those instances in which the customer makes a change in payment form and the changed payment form is a credit account which accrues interest, a need exists for insuring that the credit account is paid off in a timely manner to eliminate or lessen the accrual of interest in the account.